At a round table on this dossier on Tuesday 11 February in Strasbourg, the European Parliament’s negotiators on the EU’s multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 said that they hoped the European Council on 20 February would reach a political agreement on the next MFF (see EUROPE 12423/1).
Rapporteur Margarida Marques (S&D, Portugal) said that Charles Michel “gave us the information that he would only convene a European Council if an agreement was on the table”, at a meeting in December. It “makes us think that he has a deal on the table”.
She wants a political agreement on 20 February on the MFF or a “roadmap that puts in place a situation of trust to have an MFF on time”. At the very least, we need to “break the impasse we are in”.
Jan Olbrycht (EPP, Poland), another rapporteur on the MFF, acknowledged that the negotiation was complicated, as “we need an agreement in all areas”. The European Parliament is currently in a holding pattern, waiting for the leaders to take their decision unanimously, Mr Olbrycht also said (see EUROPE 12388/14).
Valérie Hayer (Renew Europe, France) warned that without progress on the EU’s own resources, “we will not agree” on the MFF. Parliament wants to move to ‘green’ own resources: border tax, internal market resources, plastic tax. Parliament also wishes to examine the financial transaction tax and the digital tax.
According to José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portugal), Parliament will give its backing to the MFF if there is an agreement on “new own resources”.
Rasmus Andresen (Greens/EFA, Germany) said “we want to have a greener MFF. One of the reasons we need more money”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur, Marion Fontana and Agathe Cherki)